Corrupt by Penelope Douglas Blog Tour

Posted December 9, 2015 by alicia in Uncategorized / 6 Comments

Alicia here, with a stop on the blog tour for Corrupt. And after reading that excerpt, I really need to read it ASAP. This is definitely an adult book, fyi.

Title:
Corrupt

Author:
Penelope Douglas

Genre:
Dark | Erotica | Contemporary Romance

Release
Date: November 17, 2015

Tour Hosted
by: As the Pages
Turn

Synopsis

Erika

I was told that
dreams were our heart’s desires. My nightmares, however, became my
obsession.

His name is Michael
Crist.

My boyfriend’s older
brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He is
handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball
team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than
me.

But I noticed
him.

I saw him. I
heard
him. The things that he did, and the deeds that he hid…
For years, I bit my nails,
unable to look away.

Now, I’ve graduated
high school and moved on to college, but I haven’t stopped watching Michael. He’s
bad, and the dirt I’ve seen isn’t content to stay in my head
anymore.

Because he’s finally
noticed me.

Michael

Her name is Erika
Fane, but everyone calls her Rika.

My brother’s
girlfriend grew up hanging around my house and is always at our
dinner table. She
looks down when I enter a room and stills when I am close. I can alwa
ys feel the
fear rolling off of her, and while I haven’t had her body, I know that I have her
mind. That’s all I really want anyway.

Until my broth
er
leaves for the military, and I find Rika alone at college.

In my
city.

Unprotected.

The opportunity is too good to be true as well as the timing. Because you see, three years
ago she put
a few of my high school friends in prison, and now they’re out.

We’ve waited. We’ve been patient. And now every last one of her nightmares will come
true.

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•
•
•
Corrupt ~ Excerpt
•
•
•

Once I got upstairs and in my
apartment, I dumped my bag and started up my laptop to log into my accounts. I
couldn’t
wait until everyone was back in the office on Monday. I needed to find out what
the hell was going on now.

As I brought the Internet up, I
dialed Mr. Crist’s
office, knowing he worked late and that his assistant would most likely still
be there as well. It was only just after six.

“Hello?” I rushed out, cutting off the woman
as she answered the phone. “Stella, this is Rika. Is Mr. Crist
in? It’s
urgent.”

“No,
I’m
sorry, Rika,” she
replied. “He
left for Europe a few days ago to join Mrs. Crist. Can I leave a message for
him?”

I dropped my head in my hand,
gripping my hair in frustration. “No, I…” Tears
started to spill. “I
need to know what’s
going on. Something’s happened with my accounts. I don’t have any money. None of my credit
cards work!”

“Oh,
dear,” she
burst out, sounding a little more concerned now. “Well, have you talked to Michael?”

“Why
would I talk to Michael?”

“Because
Mr. Crist transferred power of attorney over to him late last week,” she pointed out as if I should’ve known. “Michael is currently in charge of everything
until you graduate.”

I stilled, my eyes widening.

Michael? He controlled everything now?

I shook my head. No.

“Rika?” Stella asked when I didn’t say anything.

But I dropped the phone away from my
ear and ended the call.

Tightening my fingers around the
cell, I hardened my eyes and clenched my fucking jaw so hard my teeth ached.

All the money my father left us. All
the money we earned from our property and the shop. He had the deeds to
everything!

I darted my hands out, swiping the
laptop off the island and pushing it to the floor where it tumbled and crashed.

“No!” I screamed.

My stomach rolled, and I felt sick.
What the hell was he doing? I knew it was him, but why?

I wiped away my tears, anger
charging through my veins now. I didn’t care. Whatever he was up to and why he did it, God, I didn’t care.

I hopped off the stool, slipped my
phone in my pocket, and grabbed my keys from where I’d dropped them on the floor, racing
out of the apartment. I didn’t even bother grabbing my purse before I locked the door and
took the elevator down to the first floor.

As soon as the doors opened up
again, I ran through the lobby and out of the building, turning left. I rushed
down the city sidewalk, veering around other pedestrians and racing through
crosswalks as I made my way down to the gentlemen’s club several blocks from Delcour.

I breathed hard, a light layer of
sweat covering my stomach and back as I finally jogged up the stairs of the old
stone building, my legs burning from the rush I’d made to get here.

I was done thinking. Done wondering
and pondering. He’d
stolen from me and my family, and my blood was burning.

Fuck
him.

I entered the building and stepped
up to the front desk. “Where’s Michael Crist?” I demanded.

The attendant, in his pressed black
suit and midnight blue tie, squared his shoulders and narrowed his eyes on me.

“Well,
he’s
dining right now, ma’am,” he told me, and then I caught the
flash of his eyes to the wooden double doors to my right. “May I help—”

But I was gone. I charged for the
doors, not waiting to be turned away or told what to do.

I grabbed both handles and turned
the knobs, throwing the doors open.

“Miss!” the attendant exclaimed. “Miss! You
can’t
go in there!”

But I didn’t even hesitate. Screw their stupid “No Women Allowed” rule.

I walked in, my skin buzzing under
the surface and my heart racing with a new high. I twisted my head left and
right, vaguely taking in the room full of men in their fancy suits, with their
clinking glasses and cigar smoke sitting in the air above their heads.

I finally halted, my eyes finding
Michael, Kai, Damon, and Will sitting at a round table in the back. I stormed
through the room, passing tables of onlookers and waiters carrying trays.

“Excuse
me, ma’am!” one of them called as I shot past.

But I wasn’t stopping.

I charged over, seeing Michael turn
his eyes on me, finally aware of my presence, but before he could say anything,
I reached down and grabbed the bottom on the tablecloth and yanked it off,
carrying all of the glasses, plates, and silverware with it.

“Shit!” Will shouted.

Everything crashed to the hardwood
floor, and Kai, Will, and Damon shot back in their seats, trying to avoid the
mess of food and drink spilling everywhere.

I dropped the tablecloth and steeled
my jaw, glaring into Michael’s amused eyes as I stood up straight and demanded their
fucking attention.

The chatter around the room had
stopped, and I knew all eyes were on me.

“Miss?” a male voice charged, coming up next
to me. “You
need to leave.”

But I didn’t budge. I stared at Michael,
challenging him.

He finally glanced at the man next
to me and waved him off.

As soon as he was gone, I stepped up
to the table, not caring who heard me or who was looking.

“Where
is my money?” I
growled.

“In
my account.”

But it wasn’t Michael who answered. I looked to
Kai, seeing a small smirk on his lips.

“And
mine.”

I twisted my head, turning my eyes
on Will and seeing his cocky grin.

“And
mine,” Damon
added.

I shook my head, trying to keep my
body from shaking. “You’ve all gone too far,” I breathed out, shocked.

“There’s no such thing,” Kai replied. “What we can do, we will.”

“Why?” I burst out. “What did I ever do to
you?”

“If I were you,” Damon joined in, “I’d
be more concerned with what we’re going to do to you.”

What? Why were they doing this?

Michael leaned forward in his chair
and placed his forearms on the table.

“Your
house is gone,” he
stated. “Your
money and property? Liquidated. And where is your mother?”

My eyes rounded, realization slowly
dawning as I saw the suggestion in his eyes.

My mother wasn’t on a yacht. I’d been played.

“Oh,
my God,” I
murmured to myself.

“You
belong to us now,” Michael
declared. “You’ll have money when we think you
deserve it.”

I narrowed my eyes, swallowing the
lump in my throat. “There’s no way you’ll get away with this!”

“Who’s going to stop us?” Damon argued.

But I looked to Michael, dealing
only with him. “I’ll call your father,” I threatened.

He let out a laugh, shaking his head
as he stood up from his chair. “I hope you do,” he replied. “I’d
love to see the look on his face when he realizes that the Fane fortune is
gone, and Trevor will get you”— his heated eyes fell down my body before continuing— “in less than pristine condition.”

I heard Will laugh under his breath
as the rest of them stood up, avoiding the mess on the floor.

Michael circled the table, coming
around to stand in front of me. “Now we’ve
got spectators, and I don’t
like that.” He
glanced around the room full of gentlemen who were still watching us. “We’re heading back to my parents’
house in Thunder Bay for the
weekend, and we’ll
expect you within the hour.”

And he pinned me with a warning
look, letting me know it wasn’t a request.

I stopped breathing and watched as
he walked away, through the dining room, followed by his friends. And without a
single backward glance from any of them.

Thunder Bay? Alone with them?

I shook my head. No. I couldn’t. I needed to get help. I needed to
reach someone.

But I squeezed my eyes shut,
fighting away the tears as I ran my hand through my hair.

There was no one. I had no one to
turn to.

Who was going to stop them?

Penelope Douglas is
the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the
Fall Away series.

She dresses for
autumn year round, loves anything lemon flavored, and believes there
is too much
blood in her Coca Cola stream. Or too much Coca Cola in her blood stream. Or
… You know what? It
doesn’t matter. She loves Coke. Now you know.

She lives in
Las
Vegas with her husband and daughter.